The Keeper of My Pride
by SuperbBirb
Summary: Weiss has a talk with her teammates about family on the airship ride from Mistral to Atlas. My first time writing Weiss more than just a few lines of dialogue. Mostly based on canon, post volume 5. Part of a personal tribute to Monty Oum. Keep Moving Forward.


Weiss stared out the window on the airship, watching the clouds go past. She couldn't believe that she was making this journey again. She could only hope there weren't any lancers, or bandits to be kidnapped by this time.

There was something distinguishably different about this time. She had her teammates.

Weiss turned and looked from the window to her teammates, who were all sitting in the cabin with her. Ruby, who was sitting next to her, had on headphones and was listening to music as she flicked through a comic book. Blake and Yang sat across from Weiss, Blake with her nose buried in a book, and Yang staring out the window.

She could feel a knot in her stomach. She had told her teammates some of what had happened in Atlas, but she had never told them what had happened with her father. What had happened with her horrible excuse of relatives.

Weiss took a deep breath. Yang turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow. Weiss tapped Ruby's shoulder, signalling her to take her headphones off.

"You should hear this," Weiss said, taking another deep breath.

Blake looked up from her book. "Is everything okay, Weiss?"

"I never finished telling you all what happened when I was in Atlas."

Blake closed her book entirely. Yang blinked at Weiss.

"Weiss? Are you okay?" Ruby asked, placing a hand on Weiss's.

Weiss looked down at her hand. She was shaking. Another deep breath. "After the charity event, my father was lecturing me in my room." She looked back up at her teammates. All three of them were staring directly at her.

"He hit me."

"He _what_?" Yang's eyes flashed red. Blake placed a hand on Yang's arm. The touch made Yang aware that her semblance was flaring up, and she closed her eyes, trying to calm down. When she opened them again, they were purple.

"He hit me, right across the face." Weiss looked back down, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She swallowed, trying to stop her voice from breaking and tears from flowing. "He put me under house arrest, and… gave the position of heir to the Schnee company to my little brother."

"You have a little brother?" Ruby asked, before immediately covering her mouth with her hand as her face turned the color of her cape. "Sorry, Weiss. Probably not a good time to ask."

"It's okay, Ruby." Weiss allowed a small laugh to escape her lips as she looked up at the sight of Ruby's face changing colors. "Yes, I have a little brother. His name is Whitley. He's a carbon copy of my father… and holds his attitudes, too."

Blake's ears twitched. She was incredibly nervous about Atlas, and rightfully so. Her teammates would never let anyone touch her, and she was more than capable of defending herself, but she knew that they couldn't stop the stares. And the words. Bigotry was far more than just violence.

"If he sees me, he may try to take me back to that house."

The other three girls were quiet for a moment, unsure of what to say to Weiss. They had known that something had happened between the story from the charity event that Weiss had told them about, and her being kidnapped by Raven, but they didn't know the details until now. This certainly wasn't what they had been expecting.

Yang spoke first. "That house? He kept you somewhere other than your home?"

Weiss shook her head. "That house isn't my home anymore. The house that my so-called relatives live in won't be a home to me as long as they also live there. I decided that when I left." She looked down at her lap for just a moment before speaking again.

"No, I decided that when I returned there after Beacon. It stopped feeling like home when I experienced what an actual home is like."

Ruby placed her hand on Weiss's. "You'll always have a home with us, Weiss."

Weiss gave a soft smile to Ruby and her other teammates. "Being in Atlas made me realize how much more of a family you three have been to me then the people related to me by blood have been for my entire life."

"Even your sister?" Ruby asked.

"Winter is the only one I still consider to be my family," Weiss said, "and… the butler, Klein. He's cared more about me than either of my parents ever have. I might even be closer with him than I am Winter. I'd call him my actual family before I would ever call my father that."

Ruby tilted her head slightly. "Really?"

Weiss nodded. "Family doesn't have to be defined by blood. I don't think I'll ever be able to actually call my relatives my family again, if I'm being entirely honest. I'd consider all of you to be my family long, long before I'd ever consider my relatives."

"If there's one thing that I've learned in life, it's that family are those who you care about and who care about you, and have the actions to back up those words, not necessarily just people related to you."

The team sat silent for a few moments, taking in the power of Weiss's words. Yang was the first to speak again.

"Yeah, I can certainly attest to that." Yang leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms. "I'll tell you what, all of you, when all of this is over, and the world is stable again, we should all live together some day. A family of our own."

Ruby nodded. "Agreed."

"That sounds like a splendid idea," Weiss said with a smile.

The three turned to Blake. She remained silent for a little bit too long, which caused looks of concern to grow on her teammates' faces. "What? As if that wasn't _already_ going to happen?"

The three girls laughed, Blake joining in with them.

"I really missed you all," Weiss said, glancing out the window again. "I just hope things can stay this way, for as long as possible."

"Nothing's ever gonna take team RWBY apart again." Ruby reached her hands out towards Weiss and Blake. "Nothing."

The girls nodded in agreement, completing the chain of hands around the circle.

Weiss looked at her teammates, her eyes tearing up and her heart filled with emotion.

"Together, we keep moving forward."


End file.
